Chapter Ten: Burying the Past Pt 2
(Part 2!)
Song Included: What about Now? Sung by: Charlie Barkin, Originally sung by: Daughtry
Within the shadowy underbelly of San Francisco a lone canid runs through the city, clenching his head as a searing pain shot through his head, as if he had just endured a bullet to the head.
"STOP! LEAVE ME ALONE!!!" he screamed. His voice reverberated on the walls.
A malevolent echo answered his cries, "Jacob, Jacob, Jacob, you really think you can suppress me? Silly fool…your soul is mine, forever more." Suddenly a pain shot through the German shepherd's spine, causing him to scream once more.
"STOP!! PLEASE!!!" The pain was intense; it brought him to his knees.
"That's right…your pain sustains me…it nourishes me..."
Jacob was brought to tears as his tormentor relished in his anguish and suffering.
Soon a shadowy figure made its presence along the wall; its eyes were an angry red. The young shepherd stared at the evil entity whose shadow had formed from his very own being.
"We made a deal…you would gain Sasha once more while Charles' pain would usher in my opening into the land of the living…and yet… you have failed me, so instead…your soul will be the price for my freedom…"
Jacob's eyes stared in horror, "W-What?! WAIT! NO! GIVE ME ANOTHER CHANCE PLEASE!!!
The enigma laughed a sinister laugh, "All is fair in love and war..." Suddenly the shadow shot forth from its place on the wall and embedded its sinister forces within Jacob's fragile corporeal body.
"NO! PLEASE! I DON-", suddenly his voice reflected that of the evil figure on the wall.
"Silence you weakling…I'm simply, taking matters into my own paws…and, I would need your body for such a task."
Jacob regained control for just a moment, "NO!"
"YES!!" shouted the force and suddenly a blood curdling scream issued from Jacob's throat as what was left of his soul was silenced, and only a dark, foreboding laugh echoed from the walls of the alleyway.
Meanwhile…
Charlie, Itchy, Balto, Jenna, along with all of their friends were cramped in Sasha's hospital room, Charlie gripped the frail paw of the setter's in his. Sasha's breathing was soft and still.
"Charlie…" a soft voice spoke and placed their paw on his broad, strong shoulders.
Charlie only continued to stare into blankness, not heeding the call.
"He's out…" said Colleen, the one who had touched Charlie, "Poor guy…It was a good thing Itchy had found her before she suffocated with all those harsh chemicals in that cramped janitor's closet."
"My question is how Charlie knew Sasha was in trouble?" spoke Hunter from the other end of the room.
"And how she got in there in the first place…" chimed in Itchy, his paws were shaking.
"Well...Charlie was waiting for her and…hmmm…" Colleen herself couldn't put a finger on it, Jenna on the other side of Sasha with Balto, stroked her best friend's paw gently. Balto comforted her with a gentle hug from behind. Charlie himself continued to look distant as he gazed upon Sasha's unconscious form. Soon a knock broke the silence in the room.
"Excuse me?" spoke a small stature retriever, "Ms. La Fleur's parents are in the lobby, I would like to ask all of you to leave the room please while I get them up to speed."
Everyone, but Charlie and Jenna nodded, Balto took Jenna into his arms and escorted her out the door while Hunter and Thunderbolt pulled Charlie from Sasha's side, he was reluctant at first, but submitted and left with them, his face was still dark and glazed over.
"Sasha…"
Sasha's eyes opened, only to find herself surrounded in total and complete darkness, the only thing she could see was her glowing ethereal-like form.
"Am I…dead?" she looked at her paw and touched her glowing body. Soon a bright light pierced the darkness and bathed Sasha in its divine shine.
"No…I…am…" She suddenly finds herself levitating towards the light, "N-No! I-I can't…please! I beg of you, I'm not ready to die! My parents…my friends…Charlie, they-they need me…I-", her words were interrupted by a soft paw on her cheek, she looks up to see a bright and smiling angelic whippet.
"No my dear, you are not dead, I just wish to speak to you." The whippet said sweetly, and brought her gently through the light, Sasha stared all around her to find colorful fluffy clouds along with a beautiful chorus that chimed within the realm.
Sasha stared with a gape at her surroundings, "Am…Am I in-"
"Yes, you are, Welcome Sasha La Fleur, to Heaven." The whippet responded.
"B-But wait, that would mean that I am-"
The whippet silenced Sasha's lips and pointed to a cloud separating to show Sasha's unconscious form, still alive as her pulse continuously beeped softly.
Sasha looked the whippet in front of her, "So, I'm not dead, just unconscious?"
The whippet nodded.
"Thank goodness…" Sasha wiped the sweat from her forehead.
The whippet held out a paw to her, "I am Annabelle, Head Archangel of Dog Heaven, pleasure to finally meet you Sasha."
Sasha took her paw and shook it, "The pleasure's all mine. But, Annabelle, if I'm not dead then…what am I?"
Annabelle beckons Sasha to follow her, "I'm afraid I do not know either, your heart called out to us and I answered." Annabelle gazed down upon another gap in the clouds, Sasha stood at her side, staring at his paws, was Charlie.
Sasha immediately tried to jump through the hole but Annabelle stopped her from pressing forward, "Pay no mind my dear, this is just a mirror into the living realm."
Sasha looked at Annabelle, "But…I have to wake up and tell Charlie that it wasn't his fault! It was Jacob's!"
Annabelle whipped her head to look at Sasha wide eyed, "Jacob? Jacob...Barkin?"
Sasha stared back at Annabelle, bewildered by her comment, "N-No, Jacob Thompson, ma'am."
Annabelle immediately waved her paw above the cloud and it contorted, swirling wildly till a face appeared upon it, Jacob's face.
"Oh...dear…this-this cannot be!" Annabelle closed the cloud's mirror and rushed into a newly formed room, Sasha gave chase.
"Annabelle, what is the matter!" Sasha asked as Annabelle feverishly searched through volume after volume of records and archives, books upon books were stacked onto each other rather untidily, her eyes read through each page as quick as lightning.
"Annabelle?" spoke Sasha again until Annabelle slammed a volume down and pointed to the picture on the page.
"I knew it…Jacob Thompson IS Jacob Barkin." She exclaimed, "Charles' long, DEAD, brother!"
Sasha blinked a few times, unsure that the wise whippet's words have even touched her brain, she just stood there.
"Wh-What? How could th-that be? J-Jacob cannot be…dead…" she stuttered, still unsure if what Annabelle was saying was even true. "What evidence do you have?"
Suddenly before Sasha was an exact cloud made replica of Jacob and suddenly one of Charlie. The pieces started fitting together perfectly, Charlie and Jacob's facial structure were exactly the same, their body type was also the same with Charlie being a little more fit, and even their genetic makeup looked identical. It was true…they were long lost (Possibly dead) siblings.
Sasha's mouth was a gaped, her eyes could believe it, but her mind refused to, "But…if Logan is dead…how could he be here now." She spoke, failing to try to regain her composure.
"That…I don't know…In fact this probably all could be a coincidence.
Sasha stared deeply at Jacob's image upon the pristine looking paper, a stamp under his picture in red cursive read, "Deceased"
"How could this be?"
Meanwhile:
Charlie stared at the floor, his paws cupped together as the others sat on all sides of him, Balto held Jenna close to him as she silently cried, she had nearly lost one of her best friends…
"Balto…" Charlie's deep voice made all of them jump from their seats, "I want you to watch over Sasha for the night…I have something to take care of…" Charlie arose from his seat and walked out of the lobby, his paws within his jeans. Everyone just stared at him as he left, Itchy stood to follow but Bess held him back.
"Let him be alone for awhile, he just needs time to think." She said softly, Itchy blushed slightly and sat back in his seat. Vanessa's head lied upon Thunderbolt's shoulder, causing him to blush.
Hunter placed a comforting paw on Colleen's, who looked up at him, they couldn't help but turn their heads and blush wildly, and Colleen scooted slightly closer to him.
Sly and Carmelita sat on opposites sides of each other, Carmelita didn't look at Sly, but Sly was giving occasional glances at her, but when she looked up at him, he ducked his head.
Jenna cried silently in Balto's chest as he held her close, stroking her soft, crimson fur.
Charlie walked out the doors of the hospital and immediately the cold night air hit him. He only shrugged it off and continued forward into a darkened alley and if anyone was there they would see two majestic, white wings sprout from the Shepherd's back and him taking flight, leaving behind a single feather.
Charlie glided high through the city, though his wings would have been seen easily at night, he was only a blur in the sky that could be mistaken as a large bird…
Shadows fill an empty heart
as love is fading,
From all the things that we are
But are not saying.
Can we see beyond the stars
And make it to the dawn?
Change the colors of the sky.
And open up to
The ways you made me feel alive,
The ways I loved you.
For all the things that never died,
To make it through the night,
Love will find you.
Charlie soared through the skies, the moonlight giving his beautiful wings an ethereal glow. He scouts the city; he opened his maw for his song to ring through the skies and heavens. Charlie perched himself atop the point of the sky scraper, his wings keeping him balanced as well as keeping the point from causing a rather, messy accident. Charlie's angelic wings were reflected upon the moon, if you were on the ground look up at the tall building, you could catch a small glimpse of looks to be the shadow of wings upon the moon itself…
What about now?
What about today?
What if you're making me all that I was meant to be?
What if our love never went away?
What if it's lost behind words we could never find?
Baby, before it's too late,
What about now?
The sun is breaking in your eyes
To start a new day.
This broken heart can still survive
With a touch of your grace.
Shadows fade into the light.
I am by your side,
Where love will find you.
What about now?
What about today?
What if you're making me all that I was meant to be?
What if our love, it never went away?
What if it's lost behind words we could never find?
Baby, before it's too late,
What about now?
Now that we're here,
Now that we've come this far,
Just hold on.
There is nothing to fear,
For I am right beside you.
For all my life,
I am yours.
What about now?
What about today?
What if you're making me all that I was meant to be?
What if our love never went away?
What if it's lost behind words we could never find?
Baby, before it's too late,
Baby, before it's too late,
Baby, before it's too late,
What about now?
Charlie stood there for the longest time, his feathery wings like clouds, he stared at the moon's light, as if deciphering its strange euphoria…
"Sasha…come back to me…"
Meanwhile:
"YO! BOSS! THERE'S SOMEONE HERE TO SEE YOU!"
"Bring em in!" yelled a familiar Rottweiler, sitting on a makeshift throne of cardboard boxes and trash cans.
Following the minion, was Jacob, yet his eyes were not their usual blue, but a menacing green, his pupils were slitted.
"Nice contacts buddy, now what do you want?" asked the Rottweiler, was clearly annoyed by Jacob's untimely arrival.
"I've come with a proposition for you… a partnership if you will…" Jacob's lips contorted into an evil smile.
"Go on." spoke the Rottweiler.
"Dante…how would you like to make Charlie Barkin suffer…?"
(WOOT! I FINALLY GO THIS CHAPTER DONE!! I really hope you all liked this one, it took me FOREVER to get to.)